Prepared by Lois Morris 1995
Cyrus Burnet Smith was born in 1839 in South Hadley, Massachusetts, the son of Cyrus Smith Senior and Julie Warner.
He attended medical school at Berkshire Medical School in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, graduating in 1858.
Dr. Smith joined the 34th Massachusetts Volunteers in 1862 as Assistant Surgeon. On March 15, 1865, he accepted a commission as Surgeon in the 11th Massachusetts Volunteers, spending most of the Civil War in hospitals in Virginia and the Maryland/D. C. area. He was discharged in Washington D. C. July 31, 1865.
After his first wife Mary Hulbert died, shortly after the end of the Civil War, he married Louisa J. Aldrich in 1869. They were the parents of two children. Their son Cyrus Smith was born in 1872 and died in 1892 from hemorrhaging of the lungs. Mary was born in 1873 and graduated from Smith College in 1896. She was a prominent teacher of English and the head of the English Department at Punchard High School in Andover, Massachusetts.
Dr. Smith lived in Granby, Massachusetts for many years and was considered one of the leading citizens of the town. As his obituary states: Dr. Smith was not simply a friend of a favored few, but was as fully alive to the interest of the poor and lowly, the class upon which society too frequently frowns as to those who esteem themselves higher in the social scale. Dr. Smith died in a fire in 1879, as the result of his house being struck by lightening. He was just 40 years of age and in the prime of his life. His wife Louise Aldrich Smith died in 1923 at the age of 84 years old.
The Cyrus B. Smith Civil War papers include Smith's diary, military passes, induction and discharge papers, correspondence, photographs, hospital reports, bills of lading relating to the cotton trade in 1850's and Smith's thesis from Medical School.
The collection is divided into five series:
No access restrictions; this material is open for research.
Permission to publish material from the Col. Cyrus B. Smith U.S. Civil War papers must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library.
Colonel Cyrus B. Smith Papers, 1856-1958, MS 411, Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University
The papers were a gift of Bruce and Merrill Aldrich, distant relatives of Cyrus B. Smith.
This series contains genealogy information on the Smith and Aldrich families dating back to the early 17th century in America, in the form of charts, correspondence and a book on the early residents of Hadley, Massachusetts. The family obituaries give us a glimpse into the high regard held by the people in the community for Dr. Smith and his son Cyrus Smith, Jr. There is also a diary written by Mary Hulbert Smith, the first wife of Dr. Smith and an autograph book owned by Mary Smith, daughter of Dr. Smith. This series also contains Dr. Smith's Thesis from Medical School and some interesting memorabilia.
Although there are only two letters from family in the Correspondence Series, we get a glimpse into the feelings that Dr. Cyrus Smith held for his family, by reading the poem that is included in his letter to his brother Samuel Smith.
The business correspondence includes two interesting letters addressed to a Cotton Brokerage firm in South Carolina pertaining to the purchase of the slave Edward and his safe travel to his new "owner." The business correspondence also includes Bills of Lading dated 1856 from the same Cotton Brokerage firm.
Letters written from Mary Smith while traveling in China to her friend Caroline Davis are also included.
This is one of the most interesting and perhaps most important series in the collection. This series contains the personal diary of Dr. Smith written while awaiting his discharge at the end of the Civil War, military passes, some of Dr. Smith's enlistment and discharge papers, hospital orders and a list of medical supplies.
There is also a folder of interesting correspondence written during the war, along with a box of buttons from a Civil War uniform, which may have come from the uniform of Dr. Smith.
The photographs are from the Smith family. They range from pictures of Dr. Smith in his Civil War uniform to photos of Dr. Smith later in life. There are also photos of Louise Smith by herself and some of her taken with her two children. Some of the more interesting pictures are of Mary Smith taken while on a years' trip to China.
This series contains oversize material that will not fit into standard archival boxes. Among the items found in this series are certificates from Dr. Smith's enlistment in the Civil War, and Mary Smith's diploma from Smith College.